


find your way

by VagabondDawn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Gen, Post-Book Seven, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 20:31:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19775863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondDawn/pseuds/VagabondDawn
Summary: After the Battle for Hogwarts, Harry tries to work out what to do next.





	find your way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Goddess47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goddess47/gifts).



> Request by Goddess47
> 
> Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall
> 
> post-Hogwarts professions

Ron doesn’t go back to Hogwarts with them for Eighth Year; halfway through the first term Harry realises he was right. 

Hogwarts is… 

It’s still home. 

It’ll always be home but Harry can’t circle the grounds without seeing the battles raging, can’t walk past the Great Hall without remembering the rows of bodies. 

What is schoolwork compared to that? 

“I thought that without Ron here you might do your homework on time,” Hermione says, once. 

She has more books with her than in third year, but he doesn’t think the dark circles under her eyes are from a time turner. 

* * *

He has tea and biscuits with Headmistress McGonagall frequently but she never mentions anything about his tanking grades or skipped classes. 

Once, he wouldn’t have believed that of her. 

“You’ll always have a place here, Mister Potter,” she says, when he stutters through an explanation. 

He hadn’t realised he meant to leave until he started talking. Afterwards, the decision seems so obvious he doesn’t know why it took so long. 

“I don’t know who I _am_ without Hogwarts,” he says helplessly. 

“Unfortunately,” she says, placing her tea cup into the saucer, “that isn’t a question I can answer for you.” 

* * *

_You know George wouldn’t mind another assistant_ Ron scrawls in one of his infrequent letters, which just goes to show Hermione has been talking to him. 

Saturday, he walks to Hogsmeade and Apparates to Diagon Alley, feeling like he’s going to be _caught_. By teachers for leaving school grounds, by Snatchers for using magic… it all tangles together. 

WWW is quieter than he remembers — George’s smiles a touch smaller — but still bright and colourful. 

Harry nearly agrees before he sees the faces pressed to the window glass. Not children, awed by the magic; people watching _him_. 

“Maybe later,” he says. 

* * *

“What about the Ministry?” Hermione asks, practically. “They’ll hardly turn you away just because you don’t have your NEWTs yet. You could be an Auror like you wanted.” 

_Your saving people thing_ , she means. 

Harry shrugs. “I don’t know if I could,” he says, looking away. “Not after everything they did.” 

Sure, the worst of them were arrested but lots of them weren’t. And even before the Ministry was taken over… there had been Fudge and Scrimgeour. They’d called him a liar, had put him on trial, had caused so much to go wrong. 

Wisely, Hermione lets the topic drop. 

* * *

_Do you know any teams looking for a Seeker_? He writes to Oliver Wood. 

The Quidditch season is limping along, teams gutted by players injured, fled the country or imprisoned. He’s half-surprised they even try, but they do have _Oliver Wood_ , who hadn’t let _Dementors_ get in the way of a match. 

People are mental about Quidditch, even after a war. 

In response, Wood shows up at Hogwarts at 5am, kidnaps Harry out of the Gryffindor dorms and drags him to Puddlemere United’s morning practice. Harry’s not sure he expected anything else, but finally, on a broom, he feels _free_. 

* * *

They win their first game. Harry lands with the snitch clasped triumphantly in hand. 

The crowd _roars._ The team surrounds him, hollering with victory, clapping his back. 

Harry laughs. 

They stumble off the field. They shake hands with the other team, with fans, with anyone who comes close. 

“Bloody brilliant,” Harry repeats a hundred times. “It was brilliant.” 

Then the captain drags them towards the clubroom and sits them down at a long table in front of a pack of reporters. 

“Quidditch doesn’t pay for itself,” he says. “We need sponsors. That means interviews _._ ” 

In the crowd, Rita Skeeter smiles. 

* * *

The next season, Ginny gets one invitation to play for the Holyhead Harpies on reserve and watches Harry get bombarded with offers. 

Everyone wants _Harry Potter_ to play for their team. To interview for their team. 

He never thought playing Quidditch would make him miserable. 

“You know,” Ginny says, “Luna is going on some kind of creature finding expedition.” 

He blinks at her. He puts down all the offers that he doesn’t want to sign and dusts his empty hands off. “A creature finding expedition,” he echoes. “Do you think… she would invite me if I asked?” 

“She’d be delighted.” 

* * *

Harry has never thought Luna’s creatures sounded any less plausible than the ones Hogwarts taught them about, but it is a little bit of a surprise to find that it’s not just Luna going on the expedition; there’s a whole professional team of Magizoologists. It makes him feel very out of place. 

“This is Rolf,” Luna says. 

The man shakes Harry’s hand. “Rolf Scamander, how do you do?” 

“Scamander like the book?” Harry asks, then regrets it immediately. 

“My grandfather’s work. Can you _believe_ it’s still the Hogwarts textbook? It was published in 1927! It’s got a chapter on _werewolves._ ” 

* * *

Harry doesn’t feel _less_ out of place by the time the expedition ends, but he learned heaps. Not all of it was exciting and they didn’t find any Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, but he’s glad he went. 

“Next time we’ll find them,” Luna says, dreamily, seeming more like herself. 

“Next time,” Harry agrees. “Do you think you’ll publish this? Like a textbook?” 

_It has a chapter on werewolves_ , Rolf said. Harry remembers Professor Lupin’s expression when they’d written those essays. 

He doesn’t want Teddy to grow up with that. 

Luna regards him. “It can’t be hard,” she says. “Professor Lockhart managed it.” 

* * *

“I’m not exactly an expert,” Bill says waving a hand at his scars. “There was no risk I would turn.” 

“I know,” Harry says awkwardly. “I just… wanted to start with people I knew. Maybe it’s a stupid idea but…” he shrugs. “Werewolves are _people_. Why shouldn’t they get to say what it’s like?” 

“I don’t think it’s stupid,” Bill says thoughtfully. 

Harry sets up some parchment and taps his quill with the transcription spell — it writes faster than he does. They really should have been allowed to use it for schoolwork. 

“I was scratched by Fenrir Greyback during the—“ 

* * *

The book sells well. 

Whether that’s because people are interested in werewolves or because it’s got the name _Harry Potter_ on it… 

“That was an excellent idea,” Hermione says. She’d helped do research even though her Ministry job keeps her terribly busy. “Will you write more of them?” 

“Maybe,” Harry says. “Fleur asked if I’d do one for Veela. And maybe one for House Elves.” 

Maybe the book won’t change anything but he _feels_ better for it. Like he’s helped to make a difference. 

Things can change. _Harry_ can change things. 

“But I think I want to be an Auror.” 


End file.
